This invention relates generally to systems for paging clerks in a store, and more particularly for paging clerks who have specialized knowledge to help a customer who is either at a specific department in the store or is calling in on the telephone with questions relating to a specific department. The paging system of this invention drives the store's existing paging system, which conventionally includes a public address system with audio amplifier and many low-power loudspeakers. It may also include a radio system wherein clerks carry portable radio receivers with small loudspeakers, beepers, or alphanumeric displays.
Consider a customer standing in the plumbing department with a question about the plumbing components on sale there. He needs a clerk with plumbing knowledge to help him. One paging method in common use is to provide a "help" button that when pushed by a customer lights a light on top of a pole in the plumbing department. Sometimes a low power beeper on the pole also activates. The trouble with this system is that the clerk who should be paged is often out of visual and audio range of the pole, often in the diligent performance of his duties.
Other systems provide a "help" phone in each department so that the customer may call a general purpose customer service clerk at a customer service desk. U.S. Pat. No. 2,626,995 discloses a system combining a public address system with an intercommunication system between customer and customer service desk. Some systems have gone so far as letting the customer broadcast his own paging message.
These systems have proven ineffective. A majority of customers do not want to talk to a general purpose customer service clerk and are too bashful to want to broadcast their own paging message. In addition the store must fear that an occasional customer will make an improper broadcast.
When a customer telephones in to a store with questions relating to a specific department, conventional paging systems require the answering clerk on the multi-line system to put the customer "on hold" and use the store's public address system to page the appropriate clerk to answer the number of the line on which the customer is "on hold". The answering clerk, after performing these duties, goes on to answer another incoming call or perform other duties. All too often the clerk that was paged does not answer the phone and the customer eventually hangs up in disgust.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A major object of this invention is to provide a customer-initiated, automatic, clerk paging system for retail stores wherein a customer can push a "help" button on a call box, there being a call box in each department of the store, and the system automatically provides a stored, paging message to the store's existing paging system, including public address systems and radio systems, the message asking for help at the department in which the customer pushed the "help" button. The system automatically repeats the message with a preset time interval between messages, but only until a clerk pushes a "reset" switch on the same call box upon which the "help" button was pushed. This automatic re-page reinforces the urgency of the page resulting in decreased customer waiting time.
Another object of the invention is to provide a control unit that houses the stored messages and the electronic selection circuitry. The control unit interconnects with all of the call boxes, the store's existing paging system, and through a telephone interface unit, the incoming phone lines, a conventional customer service operator's telephone, and a department select unit yet to be described. The control unit also provides the system interface with entry of programming and preset information. A computer interface port is included such that activity data, waiting times, and associated data may be tabulated and reported.
Another object of this invention is to provide capability within the control unit to receive and store new and replacement messages from a microphone or other analog audio source, or through the computer interface port in digital form. When a microphone is used, a new message can be created when it is required, immediately becoming part of the message repertoire, and available for being automatically repeated as with any other message.
A major object of this invention is to provide the store's customer service telephone operator with a department select unit to select the department portion of a paging message after a customer has called in with questions relating to a specific department. The system automatically determines the remaining part of the message, consisting of the telephone line number, by monitoring phone line status. A typical resulting message would be "Plumbing, Line Two". The system automatically repeats the message with a preset time interval between messages, but only so long as the customer is on the phone line waiting for service.
Another object of this invention is to produce an alarm signal from the control unit at the customer service desk, the signal being energized after a paging message has been repeated a preset number of times. After the alarm signal is energized, the paging message will not be repeated again over the store's paging system but will be repeated over a control unit speaker after the customer service operator pushes an "acknowledge" button to listen to the unanswered page with the purpose of taking action to help the customer. The above sequence will occur regardless of whether the paging message is initiated by a "help" button or by the customer service operator.
Another object of this invention is to provide assurance messages to assure customers "on hold" that clerks with specialized knowledge are being paged .